Cold Stretches Doom St. Norbert

From Asst. AD/Athletics Communications, January 17, 2018 | Men's Basketball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

DE PERE - A scoring drought in each half sent St. Norbert College to a 69-61 loss to Ripon College in a Midwest Conference game on Connie Tilley Court in Jim Kress Gymnasium at Mulva Family Fitness & Sports Center.

The Green Knights (12-4, 7-2 MWC) had about a seven-minute stretch in the first half with just six points and six-minute stretch in the second half with no points.

A back-and-forth start put St. Norbert ahead 23-20 about midway through the first half. Mitchell Reinthaler's 3-pointer at the 8:05 mark put St. Norbert up 26-22, but the Green Knights would score just three points for the next five-plus minutes but still trailed just 30-29 with 2:48 left in the half. Ripon took a 36-33 lead into halftime.

St. Norbert tied the game at 49-49 with 12:41 left on a D.J. DeValk jumper, but the Green Knights wouldn't score again until 6:16 remained on a Taylor Penn basket. Ripon went on a 12-0 run during the stretch to lead 61-49. The Red Hawks led 62-51 with 4:58 to go before the Green Knights went on a quick 8-0 run to get back to within 62-59 with 3:07 left. St. Norbert was down three and had a chance to tie but a turnover with 2:45 left and a miss on the Green Knights' next possession sealed their fate.

The Green Knights shot 38.7 percent (25-for-62) from the floor. DeValk had 21 points, while Connor Curtis had 16 points and nine rebounds and Reinthaler 11 points.

Ripon shot 48.1 percent (26-for-54) from the floor and was 10-for-18 (55.6 percent) from beyond the three-point arc. Isaac Masters had 24 points and Tyler Semenas 22 points.